The Barden Beat
by thecurlingiron
Summary: Take a club DJ, add in a flirty bartender, awkward situations, inappropriate friends, and what do you get? An established "No sex on the counter" rule. AU. Rated T for language and possible sexual references.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi there! So I got super grounded (over something that wasn't my fault, BTW.), and I wrote this. My first AU! Whoo! I have no idea how terrible this will be, so...yeah. Oh, and if your here because you read my other story, M&M, I WILL BE UPDATING SOON. I SWEAR.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything familiar, like, you know. Pitch Perfect, and whatnot. I do own a lot of stuff in here though! Finally!**

Chapter One

"Alright, so here's the deal, Becky."

_It's Beca_, Beca mentally corrected the Luke. After three failed attempts to teach the British airhead her name, Beca decided to just ignore his constant butchering of her simple, _beyond_ simple first name. Needless to say, she was failing miserably.

"This is The Barden Beat. My pride and joy. My fetus, in the shape of a high end club, if you will. This place and I have that kind of a bond." Luke rambled on about the small nightclub as he led Beca through the front doors. When Beca stepped inside, she was overwhelmed by the dusty appeal that the club held. Nearly everything was made of wood, other than the speakers that protruded from the walls, and the club had an old timey feel to it. For example, if a cowboy burst through the front doors at that very moment and challenged Luke to a showdown at noon, Beca wouldn't bat an eyelash.

Beca shifted her bag of equipment higher upon her shoulder and quickened her pace in an attempt to keep up with Luke. Getting a part-time job DJ-ing at the local Georgia nightclub wasn't Beca's biggest aspiration, but hey. A job is a job. And jobs equal money. And money equals L.A., a.k.a, Beca's real dream. Just a plane ride away, there were hundreds of labels and companies, just waiting for her, and her amazing ability to mix melodies, blend tracks, match downbeats, and make something beautiful out of nothing at all.

However, to get to that place, she needed money. Hence, her job. It could be worse, Beca thought. She could be surrounded by stuffy asswipes in a cramped office like her father wanted. Like her father insisted, rather.

_"I just don't get it, Beca." Dr. Mitchell sighed a few months back. "Why can't you just try working at Sheila's firm? She really put herself on the line to get that position for you." Beca shuddered at the thought of being a receptionist for her stepmother, who laughed like a duck, and looked like she stepped out of a plastic Mattel box. She rolled her eyes as she continued to pack up her dorm years. Beca's college graduation was tomorrow, and she wished that she were out getting drunk, to be honest, but nope. Instead, she was tossing pictures into boxes, and listening to her father lecture her about her life decisions. Joy._

_After depositing a stack of records into a flimsy cardboard box, Beca begrudgingly spun on her heel to face her father. "I don't need the Step-monster sticking her neck out for me, Dad. I'm fine on my own." A disappointed look settled on Dr. Mitchell's face. "Must you always call her that? It's very rude, Beca." Beca's eyes lit up a little bit at her father's mention of the nick-name that she had christened her stepmother with. "Well you know I could call her worse. Much worse. There's always a home-wrecking bi-," Dr. Mitchell interrupted her. "Drop it, Beca." Beca let a small, innocent smirk cross her face before nonchalantly tossing an old weathered t-shirt into her suitcase. Dr. Mitchell let out a small chuckle at his daughter's actions before shaking his head, and trying again._

_"Beca, it's a simple receptionist gig, with decent pay. Why can't you just give it a shot?" Beca's eyes flashed, and she threw her hands in the air in an act of frustration. "Because that isn't what I want to do with my life, Dad! Don't you get that? I don't want to be some kind of stiff, boring receptionist at Sheila's firm!" After taking a deep breath, Beca lowered her arms, and her voice. Turning her back to her father, she continued. "Look Dad, I did what you asked. I came to Barden, and I took advantage of my free education. I'm done here. It's time for me to do what makes me happy, and I honestly don't care if my plans don't exactly correspond with yours." Beca threw Dr. Mitchell an incredulous look before throwing open the door to her dorm room, and stalking out._

A random passerby on the street would be able to tell that Beca's relationship with her father and Sheila was strained and awkward. Beca loved her dad. She really did. She just had problems understanding him most of the time. Four years ago, Beca's father had begged her to go to Barden University, and get a degree before heading out into the world. With loads of hesitation and protest, Beca obliged. She went to college, maintained decent grades, and kept to herself. Now that college was over, and she had escaped with a diploma and a few unshakeable friends, Beca was ready to move on with her life, and she couldn't do that while constantly being under the watchful eye of her father and Sheila.

So, she distanced herself from them as best as she could. She got an apartment with one of her friends from Barden that wasn't more than a few miles away (It was a small movement, sure, but a movement nonetheless), and she got a temporary job in an itty-bitty night club while plotting her final journey to L.A.

"…why you never hook up strobe lights with wet hands, Becky."

As Luke stopped to take a breath, Beca snapped back to attention. Right. Strobe lights, plus wet hands=bad. Got it.

"Got it." Beca replied with a reassuring nod.

"Good. Alright then, let's get you set up." Luke said as he made a beeline for the bar, where an Indian guy with thick, dark, glasses was wiping down the counter. At the sound the sound of Luke's footsteps, his head snapped up, and he nodded Beca's way. "Becky, this is Donald. Donald, Becky here is out new DJ. Have you seen Jesse?"

As if on cue, a lean, toned young man with a rumpled shirt, and messy brown curls came bustling through the back door. "You're late." At the sound of Luke's crisp, irritated British accent, Donald ducked into the storage room, and the guy spun around to face Luke with a sheepish smile on his face. "Hey, man, I'm sorry. My car broke down." Luke narrowed his eyes, clearly still annoyed, and walked closer to the counter. "Right. Well Becky, this is Jesse, my main bartender-slash-busboy-slash-bouncer-slash-whateve r. For now." Luke added throwing another stern look at Jesse.

Jesse's eyes shifted over to Beca, and froze on her frame. A short second later, a flirty smile graced his face, and he let out a breathless 'Hey'. Beca, seemingly unfazed, shot him a tightlipped almost-a-smile and an awkward 'Hello' as she rocked back and forth on the heels of her boots. Luke looked between the two young adults before shrugging his shoulders, and proceeding with his directions.

"Okay, well Jesse will be finishing up your tour of the club. Now, you two will be spending a lot of time together, so _please_, just…no sex on the counter." He emphasized this statement with a few swift taps on the counter, and a disapproving look aimed in the direction of Donald's departure. "I've been burned before." Luke retorted before traipsing off to his office.

Beca balked at Luke's exiting figure before she returned her attention to Jesse, who had grabbed a set of keys from behind the counter, and was now motioning for Beca to follow him.

"So, Becky-"

"Nope. Don't call me that. Ever. It's Beca. With an 'a'." Beca interrupted. A grin spread across Jesse's face. "Why let Luke call you Becky, then?" he inquired.

"Because Luke signs my paychecks."

"Fair enough."

Jesse led Beca up the back stairs, which led to the DJ's booth, his eyes not leaving Beca once. Which totally caused him to slightly trip up the steps. Just a little bit. Which Beca absolutely saw, by the way. Jesse tried to play it off as if he were tying his shoe, and Beca held in a laugh as she waited for Jesse to continue walking. "So Beca-with-an-'a'," Jesse started again. "This is the Barden Beat. It's pretty slow until about six, because seriously, who goes clubbing at three in the afternoon? I tried explaining this valid point to Luke in an attempt to get permission to come in later, but nope! The douche was hell-bent on having me report to work at noon every Monday through Saturday. I personally thinks it's because he gets lonely, but that's just me. The whole thing is pretty stupid to me, actually, but like you said, Luke's the boss, and he signs our paychecks."

Jesse took a breath and glanced over at Beca who was staring at him with a slightly bored expression on her face. Jesse smiled again, and continued talking. "Anyways, like Luke said, we will end up spending a lot of time together, much to your obvious delight." Jesse rambled.

"You talk a lot." Beca broke in.

Motivated, and fueled by Beca's four words, Jesse replied with a bust of confidence. "And you don't talk a lot. You know what that means right?"

"I'm sure you're gonna tell me."

"It means that we complete each other. It's official. We are destined to become best friends, and or lovers."

Beca rolled her eyes, and snorted slightly at Jesse's comment. "Wow. Quick question, do you shamelessly hit on all of the staff around here?"

"Well Donald and I sometimes have our back and forth…"

"Right."

"But other than that, no. Just you. I'm sure you feel pretty special." Jesse said with a cheeky grin.

"So special." Beca said dryly with a smirk.

Alright, so the guy was cute, and clearly interested in her. A smidge awkward, and dorky in every sense of the word, but cute all the same. Nothing like the ultimate sleaze-bags Beca had dated in the past. It was somewhat…refreshing to be around Jesse in a way that Beca couldn't explain. It was pretty nice though. Not that she would ever tell him that.

"Okay, so here's the booth." Jesse said as they stopped in front of a clear glass door with an applique record on the front. Jesse unlocked the door, and he and Beca stepped inside. The room was empty, other than a small table in the corner, a desk with a computer and a simple mixing board, and a ratty, old swivel chair. Beca walked over to the empty table, and set her bag down before turning back to face Jesse. Beca's eyes widened when she discovered that Jesse was a few feet closer to her than she had originally believed. Jesse smiled at Beca's slightly shocked expression, and inched closer until their noses were about four inches apart. Weirdly enough, Beca didn't mind very much.

Jesse reached down and gently grasped Beca's wrist. He dropped a key onto Beca's palm, and curled her fingers around it, holding onto her hand for a moment longer. Beca was embarrassed to know that she might have felt sparks. Just a little bit. "Your key to the booth, madam." Jesse said. "And if there is anything else that you need, please don't hesitate to call me." He tacked on with a smoldering gaze. Jesse slowly dropped Beca's hand, and backtracked out of the booth, leaving her with a cold key, a flirty smile, and a 'WTF' look on her face. The good kind of 'WTF' look though. The kind that translated to, "Holy crap. What do I do now?". That crafty bastard.

Overall, from what Beca had picked up from her first twenty minutes on the job, her life would soon be entangled with a uptight British boss, a semen-smeared counter, and a flirty, cocky, persistent bartender who seemed to think that 'personal space' was a myth. No biggie.

**Eh? What are we thinking? Too OOC? Should I keep going? **

**Hey you just read this!**  
**And this is crazy!**  
**But there's the review box!**  
**Review this maybe!**

**That was...terrible beyond terrible, but I have no shame. Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Only about a month late with this chapter. Not too bad. Not too bad...  
Thank you times a million and a half for your encouraging reviews, and follows, and favorites! I seriously cried a little bit. Just a little.  
Disclaimer: I don't own Pitch Perfect, Hannah Montana, or anything else you may recognize.  
(P.S., I know absolutely nothing about cars or auto shops, and Wikipedia didn't help me much, so if I screwed up a lot with that, bear with me, please!)**

"Remind me why I'm here."

Being surrounded by the bright bubblegum pink walls and overly-fruity scented atmosphere of the Bella Ballerinas Dance Studio was slowly suffocating Beca. Tack on the sounds of a Hannah Montana dance mix, the earsplitting shouting of "Ginny, get your foot up!" by the slightly tyrannical leader Aubrey Posen, and the countering comments of "Great job, girls!" from co-leader Chloe Beale, and Beca was in her own personally handcrafted hell.

"Because it's my turn to buy dinner. Pizza or Chinese?" Stacie struggled to ask over the noise. Beca rolled her eyes from her seat across from Stacie as the promiscuous brunette filed her nails from the equally pink receptionist desk. After putting in long hours at the club yesterday night, Beca could think of several better places to be on her day off, rather than waiting for Stacie's shift to end at the studio so that they could grab dinner.

Stacie Conrad is one of the very few people that Beca got close to during her four years at Barden. After being assigned as partners for a project in their Philosophy class during their freshman year, they had stuck together through the remainder of college, with Beca helping Stacie with her studies, and Stacie dragging Beca out to various frat parties. After graduation, the girls found themselves splitting rent at a small apartment a few miles away from campus as they started their lives. Stacie, being disturbingly flexible (as she simply _loved_ to remind Beca about while prattling on about her latest sexcapade of the week), had gotten a job as a receptionist, and an occasional instructor at a dance studio for little girls, and Beca had landed the gig at the Barden Beat.

"And 5-6-7-8! Let's go ladies! Ginny! Foot UP!" Aubrey chanted in the other room. Aubrey and Chloe had founded the Bella Ballerinas Dance Studio a few years back. The two girls really enjoyed being in an a capella group when they were in college, and after Chloe developed vocal nodules (nodes), they had they decided to hold onto their traditional dances, and pass them onto younger girls. Chloe and Aubrey quickly weaved their way into Beca's life as well after Stacie joined their staff. With Chloe and Stacie having equal interest in things such as guys and beauty products, and the limited age gap between the girls, Chloe was over at the girls' apartment constantly, with Aubrey being towed along for the ride. Chloe and Beca had officially, in Chloe's words, become 'fast friends' however, when Chloe waltzed in on Beca in the shower in order to compare shampoos.

Aubrey and Beca, however, were nowhere near as close as the other girls. Though Aubrey has a generally sweet and dependable nature, she was also a more traditional person, and somewhat judgmental. So when she and Beca (who harbored a more alternative and modern style) first met, they clashed easily. Because of this, Beca did her very best to steer clear of the blonde when she was on the warpath. For example, now.

"Ginny, I swear to the aca-gods. If your foot isn't above your head-"

"Aubrey, chill. She's only eleven, and she's doing great!" Chloe soothed.

Aubrey shook her head furiously. "No, Chloe. I. Need. Perfection. Our recital is in two weeks!"

"I understand that, but don't you think that you're being a little har-"

"Chloe, I am my father's daughter. You know this. And he always said, 'If you aren't going to kick ass, then you might as well not have feet'." Aubrey's eyes flashed as she stalked off to her office.

Chloe's eyes widened slightly at Aubrey's departure. Quickly shaking it off, she clapped her hands and sashayed over to the stereo to restart the music. "Alright girls! One more time, and then we're done for the day! 5-6-7-8!"

:-) :-O ;-D

"Keep pushing, dude! We're almost there!" Jesse coached as he and Donald pushed his rusty 2003 Camry LE down the side of the street. As Donald cringed and wheezed, Jesse gritted his teeth and kept pushing. This was the third time that month that the old car had broken down, and what Jesse lost in car repair funds, he had been slowly gaining in muscle.

A few minutes later, they had gotten the car to the edge of the Bumper 2 Bumper Auto Shop, and the two guys breathed out a sigh of relief as they walked inside. Jesse pushed open the glossy black doors, and as the cool air hit his face, he closed his eyes graciously. After savoring the air conditioning for a few more moments, Jesse opened his eyes once more, and scanned the room for the owner, Bumper. Instead, he came face to face with one of the many headshots of Bumper that covered the walls, and Jesse felt himself rolling his eyes.

Bumper Allen had allegedly once been a big time Hollywood singer, but had retired shortly after singing back-up for John Mayer on an unreleased CD, and had sold his rights to some kind of sport sandals line in order to fund this auto shop. Bumper never had any problems retelling his autobiography to Jesse whenever he came to get his car tended to, and frankly, after the fourteenth time hearing it that month, it got a bit old. But Bumper offered Jesse discounts on his repairs as long as Jesse slipped him a free drink every now and then when he dropped by the club, so Jesse found out how to grin and bear Bumper's story hour. For his car's sake, of course.

"So, like, when that guy clearly asked for a tune-up, and you gave him a hot wax instead, I WANTED TO CHOKE YOU. I WANTED TO CHOKE YOU OUT."

Jesse's eyes flew to the back door as the slightly pudgy, slightly douchebaggy form of Bumper Allen slid through the back door, after ripping a guy with a backwards cap and a bored expression a new asshole. _Yikes._

Bumper took a deep breath, and shook his face around, causing his cheeks to make a weird flapping noise. After pulling his head up, and noticing Jesse and Donald standing awkwardly in the room, Bumper threw on a smile that could easily be mistaken for condescending, and strode toward the two guys.

"Jesse! My main man! How are you? You're getting fat. Nice haircut! What can I do for you today?"

Jesse blinked in disbelief at the rapid fire of Bumper's comments. "Okay, well, I think my engine died. Again. Could you take a look at it?"

Bumper glanced at his watch, and sucked his teeth. "Mmmm, I don't know bro. It's about closing time, and I need to get my beauty sleep. Faces like these don't come around every day, Jesse. They need to be preserved."

Jesse resisted the urge to roll his eyes once more, as he took on a more pleading tone. "Dude, please? If I'm late to work again, Luke is gonna kick my ass."

Bumper crossed his arms, and pretended to think really hard. "Alright, but you have to treat me to dinner. I'm thinking pizza night?"

"Deal."

**Not much Jeca in this chapter, I know. Mainly just character intros, and whatnot. Next chapter will be better, I promise! Hint, Hint: Can anyone guess who all is going to be at the pizza place, and who will be working there? ;-)**

**Yo, I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want!  
I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna,  
I wanna read-a read-a read-a read-a your reviews, ah!**

**Decided to make the whole song parody, review beg thing a new spiel. Sorry. Review, please? Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I finished this light-years before I expected to. And it's the longest chapter yet! Who's on their A-Game!? (*points to self*)  
P.S., 20 reviews for 2 chapters!? That is so amazing. Thank you so, so much for your feedback! I appreciate it more than I can ever express!  
Disclaimer: I do not own Indiana Jones, Kangaroo Jack, Coldplay's 'Yellow', or anything else you recognize.**

When the bell above the glass door of Grasso Amy's Pizza Shack chimed, Fat Amy begrudgingly lifted her head up from her digital Indiana Jones photo album and slipped out of the kitchen to greet her new customers. On her way to the front of the restaurant, she silently nodded at her new waitress Jessica, who was the living definition of "service with a smile", and paused for a moment as she passed one of her other waitresses, Lilly, who was staring into one of the small aquariums intently and moving her lips in a somewhat _interesting_ (read: creepy) fashion. Reaching the front of the restaurant, Amy's eyes lit up at the sight of two familiar brunettes.

"Hey, Flatbutt! Slutbutt! You're here!" Fat Amy called with a smile.

Beca and Stacie exchanged a familiar look and a slight smile at their old college buddy's nicknames for them.

"Hey, Amy. Table for four?" Stacie said while gesturing at Aubrey and Chloe, who were hovering by the entrance to the small Italian restaurant. As the girls took in the thick meaty smell, the dimly lit room, and Lilly being Lilly-ish over by the aquarium, Chloe's face filled with hesitant wonder, and Aubrey face reflected…not so much wonder. Fear, maybe, but probably not wonder.

Noticing Aubrey's expression, Stacie took a few steps back, and wrapped her fingers around Aubrey's wrist. "Don't freak out," she murmured. "This place is really great! Plus Amy is a close friend of mine and Beca's so she gives us discounts, and she lets me use her back room for _entertaining_ every once in a while, if you know what I'm saying." Stacie said as she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

Aubrey's face paled, and she began attempting to wriggle out of Stacie's grasp. "Please don't share. We aren't that close." She whispered with wide eyes. Stacie simply smiled, and backtracked to Beca's side again. Fat Amy gathered four menus and motioned for everyone to follow her. "Watch your step," she called over her shoulder. "If you trip, there is no liability." Beca snorted slightly as Aubrey's face paled a little bit more.

Fat Amy was pretty much Beca's only friend at Barden other than Stacie. They had met on the quad one day when Beca had been tending to one of her mixes on her computer, and Amy had strolled up, plopped down alongside her, and asked for Beca's opinion on mermaid dancing. Because apparently someone had claimed that is wasn't a real dance, and Amy just had to have a second opinion. Or, by the time she had gotten to Beca (after ambushing nearly everyone else on the quad), a 17th opinion.

It was then that Amy had deemed Beca interesting. Or, in Amy's words, "You know, you're kinda like the long-nosed bandicoots that they have back in Tasmania; small and solitary. I like that." From then on, Amy had made it a habit to keep Beca company between classes, or to occasionally brighten up her dorm room by plopping down on the bed of Beca's creepily silent roommate, and dishing out a long winded story about that time when she started a rap group with her grandma. After adding Amy and Stacie into her daily routine of life at Barden, Beca never had a dull moment. But to be honest, she kind of liked it that way.

The girls slipped into their booth, and Amy began the spiel that she had memorized since opening the pizza shack six months earlier.

"Welcome to Grasso Amy's Pizza Shack. I'm Fat Amy, and I'll be waiter-essing for you today. Our special today, and every day is myself. It's pretty cool, actually. Our drinks are on the back of the menu, and if you need condiments, don't ask Lilly. Any questions?"

Aubrey narrowed her eyes in confusion, and stuck her hand in the air tentatively. "Excuse me, but…you call yourself…Fat Amy?"

"Yeah, so that twig bitches like you don't do if from behind your menus." Amy chortled.

If it was even possible, Aubrey's face paled a little bit more as she raised her eyebrows and lowered her eyes to her menu. Beca bit her tongue to hold in her laughter.

"Um, yeah. Can we just get a large supreme and some waters Amy?" Beca choked out without laughing (a pretty big accomplishment on her part if she did say so herself).

Amy nodded and began walking towards the kitchen. "Okay, cool. I'll have that out faster than an ostrich on speed."

Aubrey looked up from her napkin incredulously, as Chloe smiled and nodded at Amy's departure. "This place is pretty cool," Chloe said while glancing around the restaurant. Her eyes paused on a large portrait of Kangaroo Jack, before she turned back to Aubrey, who was nervously tapping her fingers on the slightly sticky tabletop, looking very uncomfortable with her current atmosphere. "Will you chill? Beca and Stacie said the food here was really good!" Aubrey whipped her head around and shot Chloe a slightly panicked look. "Yeah? Well Stacie also said that she was getting it on in the back room! I'm just not totally sure that this place is…sanitary."

"Oh no, it's totally is. I mean, it better be after I paid so much for a good health inspector report." Amy said as she came out of nowhere and started passing water glasses and straws. After tossing Chloe her straw, Amy bent down awkwardly to Aubrey's side, and lowered her voice. "Though, ya know, if you feel little things, like, biting your ankles and shit, don't scream. It's bad for business." Amy whispered before turning on her heel and heading over to another table.

By this point in time, Aubrey's face could have easily passed for that of a snowman.

Beca smiled and began playing with the corner of her plastic tablecloth, only to wince in surprise when Stacie jabbed her elbow into Beca's ribcage.

"Ow, Stacie, what?" She muttered irritably at the overly excited brunette. Stacie leaned over towards Beca's ear and loudly whispered, "Don't look now, but a hot guy at table seven is totally checking you out! Or, me. Nope, wait-nope. Totally you. Not the chubby dwarf, or the dude with the glasses. The other one." Beca rolled her eyes at Stacie, and turned her head to look oh-so-casually over her shoulder, only to meet the eyes of-

"Well, _shit_."

:-) :-O ;-D

Running into Beca at Grasso Amy's Pizza Shack really wasn't intentional. Jesse swears upon his limited edition, signed Rocky movie poster that it wasn't. But that doesn't mean that he isn't secretly giddy inside because of it. And if you asked anyone around, he did a damn good job of hiding it.

When Jesse walked into Grasso Amy's, his eyes bugged out slightly for about a millisecond at the sight of Beca slipping into a booth with another brunette, a ginger, and a blonde, all of whom were significantly taller than Beca. Not that he would ever blatantly mock her height to her face (because he secretly found the fact that she could trade clothes with a munchkin somewhat adorable), but it was pretty amusing to see somewhat who was so refreshingly short in a tall, tall world.

Jesse didn't remove his eyes from Beca as a smiley waitress named Jessica led them to their table, and his eyes stayed glued to the side of her face as a large blonde woman came over to take their order. Just as the large blonde woman backed away from their table and began approaching Jesse's, Beca's eyes traveled across the diner and met his. Her eyes widened for a moment, and Jesse smiled brightly and sent her a small wave. Beca's cheeks flushed, and she turned away, as her friend to her right began squealing and slapping her shoulder repeatedly.

"Dude, what are you doing?" Donald asked as he waved a hand in front of Jesse's eyes. Jesse blinked and turned back to his friend and Bumper. "Nothing," he answered. "Welcome to Grasso Amy's Pizza Shack," the waitress began when she reached their table. "Our special today, and every day, is Fat Amy herself," she continued as she pointed to herself. "And the drinks are on the back of the menu. What can I get you?" The guys settled on a large meat lovers' pizza, and Bumper decided to use the pause when Amy was jotting down their order to break in. "So, you're the special? I've seen better dishes, but I can settle. Do I get a discount if I'm hot?" he asked. Jesse and Donald rolled their eyes simultaneously before quietly groaning things like "Come on, Bumper," and "Don't be an asshole," while Amy instead narrowed her eyes in disgust, and shook her head slowly. "Yeah, that's not gonna happen. Sorry. There's a height requirement for riding the Amy-coaster. Come back when you get some stilts, or something." She deadpanned before turning her back to the table, and traipsing off to the kitchen. Bumper raised his eyebrows in surprise and Jesse and Donald snickered to their laps. "Okay, so that was-she has AIDS, clearly. That's all that was." Bumper recovered.

Jesse, ignoring Bumper entirely by now turned back to Beca, who was now staring intently at her tabletop, as if it had the answers to life's problems written all over it. With one more smile, Jesse turned back to Bumper and Donald. "Did you guys see the Heat game last weekend?"

:-) :-O ;-D

Thirty minutes of idle chat and bad jokes later, Beca was on the move. Meaning Jesse was on the move as well. After hurriedly passing a twenty to Jessica, Jesse slipped out of the front door as Donald and Bumper headed for the restroom. When he stepped on the sidewalk, he paused and looked around until his eyes fell square on Beca's back as she walked side-by-side with Stacie. "Beca!" he called. When Stacie turned slightly, and Beca didn't, he decided to take more drastic measures. "BE-CAAAAW!" he cried. He even flapped his arms a little bit for effect. When Beca froze in the middle of the sidewalk, and Stacie continued around the corner, he laughed slightly and jogged up to her side. Turning to face him, Beca greeted Jesse with a tight-lipped smile/grimace that was really more grimace than smile.

"Wow. Now you're stalking me outside of work hours and imitating a falcon? Nice. That's really nice." Beca deadpanned while rocking back and forth on her heels.

"Hey, I can't help it if the universe is pushing us together. Just face it, Beca. You're one of those nightclub girls, I'm one of those nightclub guys, and we're gonna have nightclub children. It's inevitable." Jesse remarked with a grin.

Beca struggled to contain her smile as she raised her eyebrows at Jesse's comment. "Yeah, I'll pass on that. I'll be damned if my child comes out like Paris Hilton."

Jesse chuckled before staring into Beca's eyes. "It's in the stars." He said as he gestured up to the sky. Something passed through Jesse's eyes, and before Beca could react, he had taken a step back and raised his arms to the sky. "_Look at the stars!_" he sang.

"Oh my God, please don't." Beca said before slipping her face into her hands to hide her beet red cheeks.

"_Look how they shine foooooooor, you,_" he belted as he pointed to Beca overly dramatically.

Buy this time, a few people on the other side of the side of the street had taken notice of this display, and had either shot the two a strange look before continuing on their merry way, or had paused to watch. As Beca's humiliation scale creeped higher, she jumped forward and place her hands over Jesse's mouth to shut him up.

"Please stop! I will pay you if you stop right now. Or possibly kill you if you don't. Your choice." She laughed. Jesse grabbed her hands and pulled them off of his face. "Well I doubt that I can woo you of your feet if I'm a corpse, so I'm gonna go."

Beca couldn't help but laugh, because wooing? Really? "Wooing. That's-is that what this is?"

"That depends. Is it undeniably attractive?"

Beca smirked, and made a non-committal noise as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Hmm. Guess I'll just have to try harder then. I'll see you on the workforce." He chirped as he walked backwards to the pizza shack, nearly tripping over a bench and a four year old in the process, but it's all part of the charm.

Beca snorted and Jesse barely heard her call out "Whatever, weirdo," before she disappeared around the corner.

**And there's some more BecaxJesse interaction for you! Hope you liked it! Fat Amy is so hard to write, so I give massive props to all of the authors that write her flawlessly. Next chapter, we're back at the Barden Beat! I think. I really don't know yet. Big congratulations, and massive cool points to everyone who knew about Fat Amy, Jesse and Beca!**

**Just give me some feedback,  
Just a little bit's enough!  
Just a second, "It's alright, you don't suck,"  
And I can learn to write again!**

**Gotta love P!nk. Review please? Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Figured I'd take a break from my crazy schedule of sleeping, cleaning, and channel surfing (a rigorous activity) to update this bad boy. Welcome you are. :-) JK. As per usual, thank you all so very much for reviewing, and following, and favorite-ing this little puff of my imagination. I love knowing what you think!  
Disclaimer: I don't own The Breakfast Club, Denaka, One Republic, Florence + The Machine, or anything else you may recognize.**

Beca pressed the enter key, and sat back in the dusty swivel chair with a content smile on her face. As the upbeat, yet subdued melody flowed out of her laptop speakers Beca felt herself relax for the first time in the past few hours. Every time Beca created something new, she could feel a rush of excitement and pride soar through her body, and as she listened to the finished version of the mash-up that she had been carefully tweaking for the last three days, Beca felt totally at ease with the world around her.

At 2:14 in the afternoon, The Barden Beat was barren. The only sounds that filled the club were the light clinking of the shot glasses that Donald was washing, and the monotonous hum of the old air conditioner that was desperately fighting the Georgia heat. With the absence of drunken patrons and party girls filling the tight atmosphere, Beca found her DJ booth in the club to be the place where she was spending the most of her down time. She found the quiet room to be a nice place to take refuge when she wanted to work on her music, or when she needed an escape from Stacie, the guys that Stacie brought to their 2-bedroom flat, the noise that Stacie and the guys made when they were in the 2-bedroom flat, and the aftermath conversations about the guys that Stacie brought to their 2-bedroom flat that Stacie tried to shove down Beca's throat.

The bare white walls of the booth had seemed cold and unfeeling on her first day, but as Beca adapted to her new environment, they had begun to send out a calming vibe, almost as if they were assuring Beca that she was in a safe place. As Beca continued to put in more hours at the nightclub, the booth had begun to display little pieces of herself as well. Such as the light scent of Beca's shampoo that had replaced the musty smell of the old office, or the small collection of multi-colored flash drives, all with little labels that bore Beca's name, and a date, that had gathered in a small pencil holder sitting next to her laptop. On the wall perpendicular to the glass window that allowed Beca to view the entire club, a small calendar that had a few squares scribbled on in different colors was on display, along with a small picture, no bigger than a hand, that showed Beca, Fat Amy, and Stacie flashing their diplomas to the camera and throwing their graduation caps in the air.

As Beca sat up in her chair and clicked the save button on her new track, a soft knock on the glass door pulled her out of her thoughts. After letting out a grunt that indicated that it was okay to come in, a head full of brown messy curls poked into the room.

"Hey there." Jesse chirped with a bright smile. Beca nodded in his direction and pulled her headphones from around her neck. After closing out of her editing software, and pushing her laptop aside, she whirled her chair towards the doorway to face Jesse, who was currently trying to work his way through the doorframe with a canvas bag over one shoulder and a barstool over the other. After making it into the room and shutting the door behind him, nearly hitting himself in the face with the barstool in the process, he plopped the stool down next to Beca's chair, and began unloading his bag.

Puzzled as to why Jesse was invading her domain, Beca raised an eyebrow at his actions. "Ahhh, what's all this?" she questioned as Jesse tossed her a Capri-Sun, and continued rifling through his bag. Beca turned the juice pouch in her hands before ripping off the hard yellow straw. _Strawberry-Kiwi, _she noted._ Alright then._

"Well, you know how much I love being on the ground floor doing nothing while you're on the top floor doing nothing, right? Because I love it. It's really great. But, you know, I figured I could cash in on some of that free time bonding that I guaranteed you on your first day."

Jesse glanced up at Beca, and smiled at the slight grimace on her face. "Try not to look too excited."

After pulling out a stack of plastic DVD cases and a blue laptop, Jesse slipped onto the stool, and spread everything out on Beca's desk. "So, I brought up some movies." He continued.

"We've got Jaws, E.T., The Breakfast Club, Star Wars, and Rocky. Now these are the best scored and sound tracked movies of all time." Jesse rattled off while pointing to different cases. "That's what I want to do, someday." He continued. "I want to score movies. Bring people to tears, blow their minds. And I feel like only music can do that. Now, don't get me wrong, because getting people drunk for profit is a passion of mine as well, but my heart…it'll always be in the music, you know?" Jesse peered at Beca through his eyelashes, and as his eyes met hers, she nodded and gave him a sincere smile. "Yeah. I do." She said softly.

Jesse grinned and turned back to his laptop. "So, what's your dream, Beca-with-an-'a'?" he asked.

"Uhhhh, a music producer. I want to make music. Blend tracks, mix melodies, et cetera, et cetera." Beca sighed.

"Nice. So is that what you were working on when I came in?"

"Yup."

"Can I hear something you made?"

"Nope."

"Please?"

"Uh-uh."

"_Pleeease?_" Jesse pleaded while widening his eyes, and poking out his lower lip slightly.

"You know, just because you fix your face to look like a twelve year old girl, that doesn't make me any more tempted to show you my music." Beca deadpanned.

"I've actually been told that my twelve year old girl face was highly attractive."

"Was said person drunk?"

"Perchance."

"That's really great."

"Please?"

Beca sighed heavily. "If I show you something, can we get off of this topic?" Jesse raised his hands in surrender. "Absolutely."

Beca stared at Jesse blankly for a moment before twisting her chair around and pulling her computer closer. As she reopened her editing software and Jesse stared in confusion at the sloping lines and short dashes that decorated the screen, Beca slipped on her headphones and began to explain what she had been doing for the past few days.

"So what I do is find songs that have the same chord progression, and then I create a track that blends them together." Beca said, unaware of how loud she was talking, due to the music pulsating from her earphones.

"So, like, this is the new bass line, and this is matching up downbeats." She continued while gesturing to different areas of the screen.

Jesse smiled and nodded at Beca while slightly cringing at her volume. Beca, noticing this pulled off her headphones. "Oh, I'm talking really loud." She mused before passing Jesse the headphones. "Um, so this is new. It's a mix of Feel Again by One Republic, and Dog Days are Over by Florence+ The Machine. Because of their similar background beats, all I really had to do was fix the pitches so that they matched, and then cut and paste chunks of the tracks into empty slots where their melodies would flow well."

After sliding the earphones over his ears, and nodding his head to the beat for a few moments, Jesse chuckled in awe and looked back up at Beca, who was staring at him intently, waiting for his response.

"This is _really_ good!" he praised, his voice filling the tiny room. "Now I'm the one yelling, right?"

Beca grinned and nodded. Jesse pulled of the headphones and lowered his volume as he passed them to Beca. "That is amazing, Beca."

"Thanks." She said quietly, suddenly bashful as she turned to put her equipment away once again.

"So," Jesse began. "It's ladies choice. What are we watching first?" he asked as he opened his laptop.

Beca cringed as she picked up her juice pouch. "Can we do something else? We could re-live my parent's divorce. Or visit a gynecologist."

Jesse looked back at Beca with a puzzled expression painted on his face. "What do you not like movies or something?" he said sarcastically. He chuckled dryly in disbelief after Beca widened her eyes in a 'what-can-you-do' sort of way, and innocently took a sip from her juice pouch.

"Like…like _any_ movies? You don't like- what the hell is wrong with you? How do you not like movies? Not liking movies is like not liking…puppies!" Jesse sputtered.

"They're fine! I just get bored and never make it to the end."

"_The endings are the best part!_"

"They're predictable." Beca explained as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and set down her juice pouch. "Like the guy gets the girl, and that kid sees dead people, and Darth Vader is Luke's Father-"

"Oh, right. So you just _happened_ to guess the biggest cinematic reveal in _history_?" Jesse questioned, his voice dripping sarcasm and exasperation.

"Vader in German means father. His name is literally Darth Father."

Jesse sat shell-shocked for a moment, until he opened his mouth and began grasping for words once more. "Huh…so you know German. Well that explains why you don't like fun things." Beca rolled her eyes in amusement and picked up her juice pouch to take another sip. "You know, you need a movie education." Jesse continued. "You need a movie-cation. And I'm going to give it to you. Right now." Jesse diverted his attention from Beca, and began booting up his laptop.

Beca settled deeper into her chair, and Jesse quickly picked up a white DVD case with a picture of five angsty looking teenagers on the cover. At lightning speed, Jesse popped the disc into his laptop, switched off the lights and positioned his stool right next to Beca's chair so that they could both see the screen.

"Alright. The Breakfast Club, 1985…"

:-) :-O ;-D

Beca isn't totally sure when, but at some point during the movie, she had actually started paying attention. She found the plot intriguing, the dialogue charming, and she generally stayed awake to the end. And then there was Jesse. As the ending neared, he began dishing out facts about the soundtrack, and the director, and the actors, and Beca managed to ignore him easily. However, for some reason, as Judd Nelson popped the diamond in his earlobe, and began strolling down the field, Jesse's soft mumbling caught her attention. Beca turned her head to her right, and silently watched Jesse's mouth move in sync with the words of the movie, and as Judd Nelson pumped his fist in the air, Beca smiled a little bit as Jesse's fingers curled into a fist in his lap.

"You're missing the ending." Jesse whined as he turned his face towards Beca's.

"Sorry." She sarcastically whispered as she rotated her head to face the rolling credits. Beca could tell that Jesse's gaze hadn't left the side of her face however. As the screen dimmed, Beca turned her head to assure Jesse that staring was awkward, but then she met his gaze. Their eyes locked for a brief moment, and Beca suddenly became very aware of the things going on around her. As long as they were Jesse-related, of course.

She noticed how he had leaned his arm on her chair at some point during the movie, and how it was now brushing against hers, and sending a fiery sensation shooting up her arm. She noticed how the spicy, woodsy smell of his cologne was tickling her nose, and how it made her want to lean in closer. She noticed how their faces were currently a mere two inches or so apart, and she noticed how Jesse's cocoa brown irises were darting from her eyes to her mouth. She also noticed how her eyes were doing the same.

Maybe she was caught up in the moment, or maybe Beca's resolve was finally crumbling under Jesse's persistent advances, but for whatever reason, as Jesse inched his face closer to Beca's she found herself leaning in as well, until-

"Hey Becky, I need that playlist for tonight. Do you have it?"

_Son of a Brit…_

Startled by Luke's sudden appearance, and the light filling the room, Beca jumped out of her chair in surprise, before smoothing down her hair and darting around the room.

"Yeah. Yeah, it's uhh…" Beca grasped for words, and silently prayed that her cheeks would lose the red glow that she was sure that they currently harbored. Beca's eyes landed on her pile of flash drives, and she stalked over, and grabbed the red one on top of the pile. "Here." Beca sighed as she pressed the plastic into Luke's outstretched hand.

"Cool. Oh, and Jesse, I need you downstairs. We got a new shipment of Denaka that I need you to start peddling tonight."

"Right. Cool, okay." Jesse hurriedly tossed the movies and laptop back into his bag, and followed Luke into the hallway. Shooting a somewhat longing look at Beca, he shut the door, and started down the steps.

**Okay, wait WAIT. Before you hate me, 1) Please don't hate me. 2) They'll get together soon, but I'm still figuring out how that's gonna happen. I have a hazy plan, but nothing definite. But they will get together soon enough! HATE LUKE, NOT ME. That is all.  
Just kidding. One more thing. Does anyone have any preferences for any background ships in this story? Ex. LillyxDonald, StaciexDonald, IDon'tKnowxIDon'tCare? I honestly don't have a preference, so if anyone does, please let me know!**

**And I was like,  
Review, review, review, ohhhhhhh, like  
Feedback, feedback, feedback, nooooo, like  
Tell me, what you, thought please, ohhhhh,  
So I can continue to write, write...**

**If you're in America, and you know what song I just parodied, I'm really sorry. Review please? Thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey all! So I put on my Angry Birds thinking cap, and I came up with this! Along with the plotlines for the next few chapters! I'm trying my hardest to establish an updating pattern, so I'm trying for Tuesdays (my favorite day of the week). Thank you all for reviewing, and following, and favorite-ing, and for just letting me in on what's running through your minds, and sticking with me through my crappy updates, and, ugh. I just love you guys.  
Disclaimer: I don't own Heineken, Jet Puffed Mallow Bites, Rite-Aid, or anything else you may recognize.**

At 4:00 A.M., after the late night partygoers had found somewhere to be (that wasn't wallowing in the darkened corners of the nightclub), Jesse and Beca were free from their shackles, also known as their shifts. After switching off her soundboard, and slipping her laptop and headphones into her bag, Beca escaped through the back door, skillfully avoiding a run-in with Jesse. Beca figured that it would be best for her to figure out just what the _hell_ almost went down in the booth a few hours prior before getting too close to Jesse again.

As Beca started up her car, Jesse opted to sit down in a barstool across from Donald, and plop his chin in his hands. "We need to talk." He wailed softly. Donald, without a word, pushed an open bottle of Heineken across the counter towards Jesse, and indicated that he was listening.

:-) :-0 ;-D

Eight minutes of unforeseen traffic later (because honestly, what are the odds that fifteen senior citizens all have somewhere to be at four in the god damn morning?), Beca sluggishly pushed open the door to hers and Stacie's apartment and flopped on the couch, just as Stacie began ushering a short, slightly doughy guy with scruff lining his jaw out of her bedroom.

"Really Tim, last night was great! But I have work in a few hours, so we have to cut this short." She drawls in what Fat Amy dubbed to be her 'sexy kitty' voice. Tim, obviously not picking up the hint, looped his arm around Stacie's slender waist and leaned closer to her ear. "Of course. But you're gonna call me, right?" he slurred. Stacie, like a pro, freed herself from his grip, and ushered him out the front door in one fluid motion. "Of course." She blew in his direction, along with a hasty kiss before pushing the door closed.

"Oh thank God." She breathed while leaning her back against the door. "Remind me that I can't go back to that corner Rite-Aid on Tuesdays anymore." She whined towards Beca as she tossed her long curls over her shoulder, and started trekking back to her room.

"Stace," Beca groaned from the couch, making Stacie stop in her tracks and whirl to face Beca, whose face was partially buried in the fluffy maroon cushion. "I need advice." Wordlessly, Stacie breezed into the kitchen, and grabbed a big bag of Jet-Puffed Mallow Bites before plopping down next to Beca. It was time for her to put her minor in Psychology to good use.

:-) :-0 ;-D

"I don't know what to do now, man. I mean, should I ease up? I don't even know if she likes me in the same way." After his third (fourth?) beer, and a good twenty minutes spent informing Donald about his situation of seemingly unrequited affection, Jesse was desperate for a solution. He couldn't stop thinking about Beca, and her pretty hair, and what almost happened back in the booth, and what probably would have happened in the booth if it weren't for stupid ass Luke, and his stupid ass timing. Then, after leaving Beca (with much hesitation), there wasn't even any Denaka! It was just a crap ton of Heineken, which they were always under stocked on anyways. And instead of going back upstairs (like he so desperately wanted to), don't ask him how, but Luke coerced him into getting him some dinner from the popular Chinese joint from around the corner, and by the time he had gotten back, the food was cold, and it was time to open.

Being the lightweight that he was, Jesse's eyes were glazed over, his speech was slurring, and he was _this close _to drooling on the countertop that had just been wiped down. And frankly, Donald had had about enough. He certainly didn't mind helping people or giving advice (because let's face it; as a bartender, it was in the fine lines of his job description), but Jesse was driving him nuts. And if he had to hear one more time about the majestical, unattainable creature that was Beca Mitchell, he was going to either scream, or walk straight out, leaving the drunken form of Jesse Swanson to face the dim lighting and shadows of the club by himself for another few hours.

Donald loved Jesse like a little brother, but he was like a foot in the ass when he was drunk. Which Donald really should have thought carefully about before relenting to Jesse's pleas and passing him another bottle of beer after Jesse downed his first. And second. And possibly third. No one was keeping track by that point. Jesse was as plastered as a stucco wall, and Donald was tired. So Donald decided to pull out every piece of relationship wisdom he had, and bullshit the rest of it so that he could get the hell out of there.

"Alright Jesse, here's what you do. You be upfront. Lay it all out on the line, grow a pair, and _ask her out_. If she says yes, fantastic. If she says no, then move on, damn it. It's that simple."

Jesse lifted his head from its former resting position on the counter, and nodded slowly. He understood what Donald was saying. Kind of. His ears were a little bit foggy, but he caught the gist of it.

"Great." Donald sighed. "Now let's get you out of here."

"Cool. I'll drive. Gimme your keys."

"Hell no."

:-) :-0 ;-D

"What do I do, Stacie? I think I kinda like him, but I don't know if I'm ready to jump into anything yet. It's too soon." Beca grumbled as she stuffed another marshmallow into her mouth.

This had been going on for twenty minutes. Beca had been staring up at the ceiling fan, her head in Stacie's lap, as she begged for advice that both of the girls knew that she probably wouldn't take, and stuffed her face with the chocolaty treats, one by one.

At Beca's last sentence, Stacie did a double take. _Too soon?_

"Too soon?" she repeated aloud. "Beca, it's been almost a year since you dumped that last douchebag on his ass. You need to move on. Preferably with Jesse, because if you don't get with him, I will be happy to bang him like a drum."

Beca's eyes softened as she sullenly acknowledged Stacie's words. Stacie was much smarter that what the guys that she picked up gave her credit for, and Beca knew that she was right. It had been a while back when she'd walked in on her boyfriend (ahem, _ex_-boyfriend) Jake, the one guy that she had dated the majority of her college experience, making out with her roommate. In her room. _On her bed._ And eight months later, she was still pathetically using her heartbreak as a shield to keep guys like Jesse at arm's length. But Jesse seemed harmless. Goofy, but harmless. And Beca was tired of putting up the front that she had no interest in him whatsoever. Because she did, as she begrudgingly admitted to Stacie after a handful or two of Mallow Bites.

Beca sighed heavily, and looked up to Stacie, actually ready to take her advice now.

"What do I do?" she asked again.

"Easy. Lady up, and ask him out. It's not like he's gonna say no. And besides, he's cute. What have you got to lose?"

Beca pursed her lips, and blinked a thank you to Stacie before hoisting herself up off of the couch, and slinking off to her room, all the while praying that Stacie was right.

**I know that this was more of a filler than anything else, but whatevs. Hope you liked it anyways! Oh, and thank you for sending me your ships! I took them, and I mapped out all of the relationships for the rest of the story! Whoo! Now, the thing is, I got an equal amount of LillyxDonald v.s. StaciexDonald, so I came up with a solution! You won't know what it is for a while though, because my lips are sealed. :-)**

**I love it when you leave reviews,**  
**I love it, I love it,**  
**I love it when you leave reviews,**  
**I love it, so give me feedback!**

**A lot of you (read: all of you) were deeply disturbed by the Bieber parody last chapter, and frankly, I found it hilarious. Hope this was better, because I really love this song! Anyhoo, review please? Thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Don't you dare throw stones, guys. Don't you do it.  
Uhm, hey there. Do I just start with the apologies, orrrr...? Yeah? Okay.  
I'msosorryI'msosorryI'msosorryI'msosorryI'msosorry . There was a series of unfortunate events that prevented the timely update of this, and for that, I am so sorry. Thank you all still for reviewing, and favorite-ing, and following even though I'm kind of a giant douche canoe.**

**Disclaimer: There is a crap ton of references in here, so here we go. I don't own Snapped, Optimus Prime, Justin Bieber (and I thank God for that everyday), The Real Housewives, or Morticia. Oh! And I most DEFINITELY don't own Amber, but if you do know where she's from, unlimited cool points for you! (P.S., Thank you oh, so, very much for letting me borrow her Holly! You're the bestest!)**

Beca swore that if Stacie came near her with another makeup removal wipe, Beca would be headlining the next episode of Snapped.

"Beca, you look like you're refuging tires around your eyes. Wipe that shit off!" Stacie insisted while lunging towards Beca's face once more. Beca sighed heavily after smoothly dodging Stacie's attempts to scrub at the makeup around her eyes. "Stacie! Jesus! I wear my makeup like this all the time. What justifies you to be my makeup Hitler now?"

"Because Beca," Stacie panted while throwing herself across the room at Beca again. "I need you to get laid."

Beca jaw dropped slightly as she looked up at Stacie in shocked amusement. Or irritation. One of the two. "What the hell, Stacie?" she laughed incredulously.

"It's just, Amy and I have this thing going, because she thinks that you're an 'asexual brumby', or something like that, and I was like 'No way. Beca totally gets sacked, like all the time,' so we made a bet out of it, and then I realized that you don't. You don't have sex, Beca. It's been a while. And I'm sure that this guy isn't gonna want to get you in the sheets if you look like a goddamned raccoon, so please. _Please_ lighten up the makeup. Please." Stacie went as far as shifting into a squatting position, and clasping her hands together with a desperate look pasted on her face.

For Beca and Jesse, the weekend had dragged on. With much hesitation, Luke hired a little bit of extra staff to keep The Barden Beat up and running at all times, leaving Beca and Jesse with some weekends to themselves. Including the one directly after the disastrous (not so disastrous…?) almost a 'thing' that ensued in the booth. The new additions to the Barden Beat workforce included Jesse's neighbor, a gangly, awkward guy named Benji who insisted upon wearing a long black cape over his uniform, and a tall lean girl with light brown hair and a laid back attitude named Amber. While Benji helped Donald fill shot glasses, and Amber monitored Beca's pre-arranged playlists, Jesse and Beca sat in their apartments, letting the thoughts of one another stress them out.

Suffice to say, on Monday when they saw one another again, things got awkward. Ish.

:-):-O;-D

_"Hey Donald. Is, uh, Jesse around?" Beca asked as she walked into the club at nearly noon to find Donald shining some shot glasses._

_"Uh, nope. Last I saw him, he was sitting in that stool," he gestured to a stool down the bar. "Chugging beer, and whining about you and your pretty hair. By the way, his drunk persona thinks that you have pretty hair."_

_Beca let out a nervous giggle-ish-type laugh while subconsciously pushing her hair over her shoulder. "Could be worse, I guess. Last time my roommate was drunk, she ran up to a semi, and whispered 'I know your secret, Optimus Prime'."_

_Donald chuckled as he reached for another glass. "When he comes in, I'll tell him you asked about him."_

_"Cool. Thanks." Beca smiled as she retreated up the stairs to the booth. Shortly after dropping her stuff, and booting up her laptop, Beca heard the thumping of footsteps heading in her direction. Bracing herself for Jesse, she hopped out of her chair and opened up the door to find—_

_Luke. Freaking Luke._

_"So, Becky, about your playlist, I'm thinking that maybe you could add a few more top 40 songs? Don't get me wrong. I think what you're playing is great. However, for some reason, a lot more college girls have been coming in, and they just love that Bieber shit."_

_Beca grimaced at the last few words that rolled off of Luke's tongue. "Bieber, no. I would have to lose all of my self-respect as a DJ to go Bieber. But I can do top 40."_

_"Great. You're the best, Becky." Luke threw over his shoulder as he disappeared down the stairs again._

_Beca winced once more as she shut the door, because it was _Beca_, goddamnit._

_Shrugging off Luke, Beca yanked her headphones over her ears, and began setting up her new playlist. She had been working diligently for an amount of time that she couldn't place, when a tap on her shoulder caught her attention. And made her fly three feet into the air._

_"Whoa, sorry!" Jesse exclaimed as he back up a few steps with his hands raised in a form of surrender. He smoothly grabbed one of the tissues from the box on Beca's desk, and waved it in between the two of them. "I knocked, but you didn't hear me so I just kinda came in. I mean you no harm." Jesse smiled as he waved the tissue once more._

_Beca smiled and rolled her eyes as she leaned back on her desk. "You're a weirdo."_

_"Yeah! And so are you. It's pretty great, isn't it? How in sync we are? You feel it too, don't you?"_

_"Whatever lets you sleep at night." Beca quipped as she saved her playlist, before swiveling back around to face Jesse again._

_"So," Jesse began as he tossed the tissue in the corner bin. "I think we need to continue your moviecation. The fact that you probably haven't seen Rent is killing me softly, and I would be a criminal if I didn't get you to watch it. So…are you busy this Saturday?"_

_Beca cringed and bit her lip as she turned to rummage through her bag. "Um, yeah, actually."_

_"Oh," Jesse said dejectedly as he shuffled his feet._

_"I got tickets to this Music Festival thing that going on Saturday night," Beca continued as she pulled two tickets out of her bag. "And, I was actually gonna ask if you wanted to g—,"_

_"Yes." Jesse interjected, his hope restored._

_Beca gave him a slight smile as she handed him one of the tickets. "Okay. Cool."_

_"Cool."_

_One awkward wave, and an even more awkward goodbye later, and it was a date._

:-):-O;-D

After arriving at the apartment later that evening, Beca, making a rookie mistake, unintentionally brought their plans to Stacie's attention ("No, Stacie. I can't have a Real Housewives marathon with you on Saturday. I've got shit to do." "What is that? What is that look on your face Beca? It looks like happiness, and we both know that that can't be right…HOLY—YES! YOU HAVE A DATE! YES!"), thus releasing an avalanche of Stacie harassment upon herself for the next five days. And now, on Saturday night, approximately twenty minutes before Jesse came to pick her up, Stacie was doing the Mexican hat dance on Beca's nerves, and Beca couldn't wait to get out of there.

Beca rolled her eyes in clear irritation this time before starting to inch towards her room. "Unbelievable. Okay, first, I have sex. Plenty of it. I'm just not into having 'gal-pal-chat-time-tell-me-how-good-he-was' conversations with you every time I do. Second, we're going to a music festival downtown, dude. Not the Marriot. Third, I told you bitches to stop involving me in your bets! And finally, the hell did you bet anyways?"

"Money and shame, like always. Anyways," Stacie said as she brushed off Beca's questions nonchalantly. "Point is, Jesse's not gonna want to jump you if you look like effing Morticia, so lock down the goth for _one night_. For your good friend Stacie. Do it. Do it, Beca. Do it."

Beca was so over this. "Jesus Christ! Look, if it'll get you off my ass, Stacie, I'll go re-do my makeup! And you better damn well be happy about the outcome." she fumed as she turned on her heel and strode to her room, slamming the door behind her.

"Thank you!" Stacie yelled as she shuffled to Beca's door. "And put on nice underwear!" She yelled through the door. "If you're wearing granny panties, I'll kick your ass!"

:-):-O;-D

Jesse was doing great. The sun was setting, leaving a parade of warm hues dancing across the sky, his jacket was crisp, he smelled like a male model, and he had plans with the girl that had been endlessly dancing through his mind for roughly a month or so. (Insert cliché "What could go wrong" here.)

Feeling confident, Jesse slid into his car, slipped the key into the ignition and waited for his car to rev up. Which it didn't. So, he tried again, and—no. Still nothing.

"No. No, no, no." Jesse panted as he twisted the key again. And again, and again. "No, no, no, no, no! You're kidding me." he wailed before slumping back in his seat. Defeated, he sat there in his musty, immobile Camry trying to think of a way to break his plans with Beca without totally incinerating his chances with her, when he got an idea.

Pulling out his cellphone and hitting 4 on his speed dial, Jesse waited anxiously for the person on the other end to pick up.

"Hello?"

"I need a favor."

:-):-O;-D

Beca straightened her jacket, and took one more glance in the mirror. Her makeup was lighter, her clothes were kickass, and she looked pretty damn good if she did say so herself. Although she would admit it to no one, she was somewhat excited to be going out with Jesse. He was the first guy she had found in a while that was semi-decent. Besides, dorky as it is, he brought her juice pouches. How he knew that she had a slight weakness for strawberry-kiwi, she would never know. But she could roll with it.

The light buzzing of her phone drew her eyes to her dresser, and she quickly picked it up after seeing Jesse's caller ID.

"Hey. What's up?" she smiled into the receiver.

"Hey! So, uh, funny thing happened…"

:-):-O;-D

Stacie was peacefully watching The Real Housewives battle it out on the small living room TV (Just because Beca was busy, that didn't mean that her plans couldn't resume as normal) when a sharp knock to the tune of 'Shave and a Haircut' made her begrudgingly lift herself off of the couch to swing the door open.

Much to her surprise, not one, but two of the guys that she had seen at Grasso Amy's last week were perched outside her door. The guy with the light curls that had been eyeing up Beca from across the restaurant (clearly Jesse), and a tall Indian guy with earrings and a pouty lip that was already getting Stacie hot and bothered. _Enter the hunter_.

"Hi Jesse, and _hello_ there not Jesse." She crooned with the utmost charm as she leaned against the doorframe seductively. "Do come in."

While Jesse shuffled in awkwardly, Donald strode in towards Stacie with a confidence that nearly matched hers.

"You must be Beca's roommate." Jesse stated as he uncomfortably glanced around the apartment.

"That's right." Stacie chirped, her eyes not leaving Donald's. "I'm Stacie. And you are?" She questioned as she offered Donald her perfectly manicured hand. "Donald." He answered lowly as he struggled to tear his eyes from Stacie's, er, _assets_, which were proudly on display in her thin tank top and barely-there running shorts. There was no shame in Stacie's game.

Jesse started to wonder if calling Donald to be his and Beca's chauffer for the evening was the best idea. From the looks of things, it was going to be a struggle to get him out of the apartment.

"Uh, yeah, so about Beca…" Jesse tried as Donald took a break from his and Stacie's heated stare-off to check his buzzing phone. "Whatcha working on over there?" Stacie asked, blatantly ignoring Jesse in an attempt to get to know Donald better.

"You wanna see what I got going on?

"Was that a sexual innuendo?"

"That depends. How did you feel about it?"

"Is Beca here?" Jesse broke in incredulously just as Beca came out of her room and slipped her bag strap over her head.

"Hey." Jesse breathed as he took Beca in. "You look great."

"Thanks." She smiled. "You don't look too bad yourself. So how's this gonna work? Donald, are you coming with us, or are you dropping us off, or…?"

"Actually," Donald began as an idea popped into his mind. "Why don't you two just take my car, and I can stay here and get to know your lovely roommate a little bit better." He said as he blindly tossed Jesse his keys.

"I second that emotion." Stacie interjected.

"Of course you do." Beca sighed as she and headed for the door. "Try not to get lost in his pants, Stacie." She laughed before closing the front door behind herself and Jesse. "You'll have to excuse Stacie." She groaned as she and Jesse walked down the hallway. "Her primary thinking is done with her lady bits. It's a serious problem, really."

Jesse laughed before offering Beca his arm. "It's cool. Shall we?"

Beca smiled before looping her arm around his.

**And the first hint of a background pairing appears! Oh, but LxD people, don't give up on me just yet! I still have a few tricks up my sleeve! Next chapter's the date, guys, and I'll have it up as soon as I possibly can!**

**My obliviousness, is killin' me,**

**(AND I…)**

**I must confess, I really need**

**(REALLY NEED)**

**To know the things running through your minds…**

**Gimme a sign!**

**Feedback, baby, make it mine!**

**Thought I'd try out some Britney today. Whad'ya think, guys? Review, please, if you don't totally despise my soul? Thanks for reading!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Buckle up, boys and girls. This is gonna be a long one.  
So, uh. I'm thinking that we all need to collectively blame my Chem teacher for giving me so much work that I see Scientific Notation when I close my eyes, because this was not my plan. I was gonna be all like "Here's your chapter!" and you guys were gonna be all "AJ! You must be a princess!" And then I'd be like "Nah, but I try to be a modern day hero where I can," or something along those lines. Enough of that though.  
Thank you all so very much for following, and favorite-ing, and reviewing! Seriously, some of those reviews made me jump for joy! (You know who you are. You ****_know_**** who you are. The virtual cookie was delightful, btw. Thanks. :D)  
Disclaimer: It's like, midnight in the USA, and I'm not keeping up, so I don't own anything familiar.**

"_Soooooo? How did it go_?" Chloe crooned into the receiver as soon as Beca paused her mix, and scrambled to hit the answer button.

Beca stared down at her iPhone in confusion, because how the _hell_ did Chloe find out?

"How did what go?" Beca tossed back nonchalantly.

Beca could hear Chloe scoff into the phone. "_What are you, Dory? How did your date with Jesse go!?_" she squeaked.

Beca frowned to herself, because she simply _had _to find a human sized muzzle for Stacie's big mouth. But first, "The hell is a Dory?" Beca inquired.

"_Dory? Finding Nemo? The little blue fish who forgot nearly everything but her name, and P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney? Only, she forgot that too. But she remembered it eventually. She was voiced by Ellen!?_"

"Really? Well Ellen is just one classy lady. I love her hair." Beca expressed, skillfully avoiding the root of their conversation.

"_I know!_" Chloe enthused. "_And then I was so upset when Miley Cyrus got her hair cut like that, because it's like um, hello? Trademark infringement much? She's really been flying off the handle lately. I mean, we all saw the VMA's. We all saw her use that poor foam finger as a loofah. And, oh my gosh! Have you seen her new video? She's like, swinging around naked on a wrecking ball, and sucking on a sledgehammer, and I was telling Aubrey 'I really hope she got a tetanus shot before all of that,' and Aubrey was—well played. Well played, Mitchell. You almost had me. You almost got out of this. Nuh-uh. Spill. How was your date? And don't skimp on the details. I still have to pass along what you say to Aubrey."_

_Shit, _Beca thought to herself. Chloe really wasn't as ADHD as Beca was hoping for. But still, as anti-terrible as her date was, Beca wasn't exactly ready to sacrifice all of the details to little miss Chatty Chloe. But she knew that if she didn't give up enough info to sate Chloe's thirst for a free pass into everyone's business, no one would get to hear the end of it.

"How much do you already know?" Beca sighed.

:-) :-O ;-D

"Never?"

"Nope."

"Ever?"

"Uh-uh."

"You've never had a funnel cake?" Beca questioned, her eyes wide.

"Sure haven't." Jesse replied matter-of-factly.

"_Ever?_"

"I feel like we've been here before."

"So, me not liking movies is deplorable, but you never having a funnel cake is perfectly okay? You hypocrite! That is sad, Swanson. Really sad." Beca chastised him as they walked the fairgrounds under the fading Saturday sky. The smell of carnie food, and the wail of the guitars coming from the giant multicolor stage were tickling Beca's senses, along with the spicy scent of Jesse's cologne as they walked, because _damn_.

"I've just never had one!" Jesse cried! "You _choose_ not to like movies. I didn't necessarily choose not to have a funnel cake, so I'm in the right!" They strolled past a gaggle of high school kids who were inhabiting the wooden picnic benches, Beca's shoulder barely brushing Jesse's bicep.

"No! You are completely in the wrong, because you are a twenty-two year old boy-man who has juice pouches at the ready, yet you still haven't had a funnel cake yet!" Beca laughed while grabbing his wrist and pulling him in the other direction.

They had been at the festival for nearly an hour, listening to a few local bands, and ambling around aimlessly, and Beca and Jesse had learned more about one another than they ever thought that they would know. Example, Jesse learned that Beca's parents divorced when she was twelve, and one of her only fond memories with both of them was when they would all go to the carnival, ride the Pirate Ship ride, and then share a funnel cake. And Beca had learned that Jesse wanted to be an astronaut or a pelican when he was eight, he once upon a time worshipped Captain Underpants, and Beca had also learned…what was it? Right. That Jesse had _never had a funnel cake_.

Beca couldn't wrap her head around it. Sure, she was never a big movie person, not even when she was little, but despite popular belief (Jesse), she did like some fun things. Like amusement parks, and road trips, and poker, and funnel cakes. But not clowns. Never clowns. Clowns are just sneaky bastards in face paint.

After lightly pushing Jesse onto a bench, and purchasing a fresh funnel cake from a nearby vendor, Beca plopped down beside him, and placed the plate of dough and sugar into Jesse's lap.

"Eat it." She commanded with an all too serious look on her face.

"I can see that this is very important to you." Jesse laughed.

Beca picked the plate up and held it up so that it was just under Jesse's nose. "_Eat it_." She demanded once more.

"Can I get, like a fork or something?" Jesse asked, still chuckling at Beca's expression.

Beca's eyebrows scrunched up, and her jaw dropped in disgust as she pinched off a piece with her fingers and held it in front of Jesse's mouth. "_No_. No you can_not_. You will eat this like a normal person, damn it!"

Jesse plucked the piece from Beca's fingertips before facing her with a playful smile. "Date number one, and we're already feeding each other. Promising, don't you think?"

Beca pressed her lips together and cut her eyes at Jesse before shoving his shoulder lightly. "Shut up." She murmured while pinching off a piece of cake for herself and popping it in her mouth.

"No one's complaining! Just didn't think that we'd become one of those couples that soon." Jesse laughed as he began to chew his own piece.

"Ugh. No. We are _not_. I will sooner lock myself in a room with Fat Amy and the Barden swim team before I become one of those stereotypical, giggly rom-com bitches."

Jesse chuckled with his mouth closed, while noting that Beca hadn't dashed the possibility of them being a couple. _Promising, indeed._

"So?" Beca pressed.

Jesse swallowed and turned his head to meet Beca's inquisitive gaze. "So what?" he asked imperturbably.

"Don't play dumb, Swanson. I have Stacie for that. How right am I about the funnel cake?" she joshed as she elbowed him lightly in the side and gestured to the plate in his lap. Jesse nudged her back as he glanced at the plate. "It was…alright." He teased with a straight face.

"Ahem?" Beca quizzed, one eyebrow raised sky high.

Jesse broke out into a grin once more. "I mean, as long as that's alright with you and your amazingly scary earspike, DJ Mitchell."

Beca cut her eyes as Jesse while reaching for the plate. "My earspike and I are not amused." She deadpanned as she pinched herself off another piece of cake.

Jesse chuckled. "No, but in all seriousness, it's good. Really good. I don't know how I was living." He relented as he reached to grab another piece, his fingers lightly brushing Beca's. Beca blushed lightly as that simple little action triggered a flurry of butterflies that swam around the pit of her stomach, and she inched her fingers back a bit until they were dancing nervously on the edge of the plate. "I'm going to get drinks." She breathed, standing up abruptly.

:-) :-O ;-D

"Awwwwww!" Aubrey and Chloe crooned through the screen. That simple phone call had quickly turned into a Skype session with Aubrey and Chloe staring at Beca and Stacie (who had slipped into the room, and squeezed into half of Beca's leather rolling chair when she signed on) through the screen of the Mac at the receptionist desk at the studio. "You were sharing food! How intimate!" Aubrey cried just as Chloe shouted "Why would you move, you dumbass!?"

Beca glared at the both of them with a look that could freeze hell over twice. "I had powdered sugar all over my face! That could have gotten embarrassing if I was walking around looking like Frosty the Snowman."

"You know Beca, I'm sure Jesse wouldn't have minded eating the sugar off your face, judging by the way you two were going at it by the door when you got back." Stacie chimed in, waggling her eyebrows, and nudging Beca in the side.

As Chloe and Aubrey gasped in the background, Beca turned her steely stare on the brunette who had stolen half of her chair. "Why are you even here?" Beca asked.

"No, wait, keep going!" Chloe nearly screeched.

:-) :-O ;-D

The crowd was cheering, and clamoring to get closer to the amateur indie/rock group that was onstage, jamming out to a Beatles cover. As the light strumming pulsated through the field, riling and soothing the crowd simultaneously, Beca allowed herself to gently sway to the rhythm of the music. She could feel Jesse's body heat radiating beside her, as they were pushed closer and closer together by the groupies that flanked them on either side. Beca tilted her head up to see Jesse gently bobbing his head along with the melody of the bridge.

Channeling her focus back on the band as the lead singer, with a haircut that screamed 'stoner' hummed lowly into the microphone before launching the whole band into a series of 'na, na, na, nanananaaaas,". As the drummer pounded on the set, the pianist began soulfully striking his keys, the singer pulled a tambourine from seemingly nowhere and the lead guitarist began wailing on his Gibson, the whole crowd seemed to shift, and as a hard shove on her right knocked Beca off of her feet, the whole world seemed to slow down a little bit.

Beca stumbled to her left, sure that in any moment she would be tasting grass, until she found warm arms wrapped around her on either side, supporting her. Looking up to thank her savior, she locked eyes with Jesse. She shifted to a standing position, and twisted in Jesse's arms, their gazes not disconnecting once, and as the band played on, the lead singer shaking his tambourine like it had done him a personal wrong, Jesse leaned forward, tucking a strand of Beca's hair behind her ear and brushed his lips against hers lightly. Beca's whole body broke out into fiery shivers as she leaned up on the toes of her boots to press her mouth more firmly against Jesse's. She balanced her palms on his shoulders, and Jessecupped her face with one hand, while sliding the other to her back. And as the Technicolor lights flashed all around them, Jesse and Beca stayed in their own little bubble, and Beca could feel herself falling for him. Hard.

:-) :-O ;-D

Fifteen minutes. It had taken those bitches fifteen minutes to blatantly end their Skype conversation, grab their jammies, and hightail it over to Beca and Stacie's. (Because apparently, when your alternative midget buddy gets a boyfriend, that calls for an impromptu girls night. Who knew.)

"You better keep going." Chloe breathed as she and Aubrey strolled through the front door with tubs of Ben and Jerry's, and bags of assorted candies in their arms, clad in cartoon pajama pants and tank tops. Beca shut the door behind them, and sighed as she plopped onto the couch and grabbed the remote control. She knew that it was going to be a long night.

:-) :-O ;-D

Jesse slotted his fingers through Beca's and they strolled into her apartment building. Instead of flinching this time, Beca could feel herself leaning lightly into Jesse's side. Beca was amazed by the lack of pressure that she was feeling. Everything felt really light and easy with Jesse. Her laughter came easily, and her smiles were no longer painted on. Beca Mitchell was genuinely happy. Someone alert the coast guard. "Well, that was fun." Jesse exhaled as they entered the elevator. "Yeah. Though that seedy guy by the pretzel stand kept trying to get me to loan him a dollar, that was alright. _This…_was alright." Beca sighed. As they stepped off the elevator and approached Beca's door, Jesse spun around to face Beca. "Do you think you'd wanna, maybe do this again sometime?" Jesse asked. "That'd be…alright." Beca said, grasping for words, because Jesse's face was centimeters from hers again, and _Jesus Christ_, his cologne.

Jesse smiled slightly and leaned forward to press his lips against Beca's again. Beca leaned forward into the kiss, freeing one of her hands from Jesse's grasp to loop her arm around his neck.

"Well _hello_ there." Stacie said as she yanked open the front door, causing Beca and Jesse to break apart quickly, obviously flustered at being interrupted.

Behind her, Donald was shrugging his jacket on, hair mussed from earlier activities that Beca really didn't care to know about. As Beca and Donald awkwardly switched places, Beca smiled slightly at Jesse, who was gazing at her adoringly. "Thanks." She said softly as she creaked the door shut. "Good night guys."

"Night." Jesse muttered with a dopey grin and Beca closed the door. As she leaned her back against the door, Beca could just barely hear Donald sigh, "Wow. You got it bad," as he and Jesse moved down the hall.

:-) :-O ;-D

"Adorable." Chloe said. "A. Door. A. Ball." She breathed, shifting positions on the couch.

Beca rolled her eyes at the redhead as she sank deeper into the cushions, slightly embarrassed. "Glad I have your approval, Chloe."

"Yeah. So! Let's get this Finding Nemo thing going." Chloe yelped as she pulled a DVD case out of her duffle. Beca cringed as she moved to get up from the couch. "I'm good, thanks. I'm actually gonna go take a shower.

"I can come with."

"Chloe, I swear to God."

**Hee hee hee. Am I forgiven? Yay? Nay? Ah. Alrighty then. Guess I'll just have to make the next chapter super awesome in retaliation then.  
Quick thanks to my sharp witted sidekick who gave me an idea that has helped me finish plotting out the story! Yup! I'ma finish this guys! You know why? Because I'm no Professor Calamitous. (If you know where that's from, you are just an angel. Plain and simple.)**

**Review! It would be so great!  
(Da da doo doo)  
Review! And I'll write all day!  
(Da da doo doo)  
Review! It would be so great!  
Re-re-review, view, view,  
Re-re-re-review!**

**Lady Gaga today! So, what did you guys think? Review please? Thanks for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi everyone! Sorry for the time gap. I've been really busy, and I'm completely wiped out. I finally finished this though! Hope you enjoy!  
Whoa, guys. Whoa. I just noticed that we hit over 100 reviews and follows! How cool! Thank you all so much for sticking with me thus far, and reviewing and favorite-ing and following! It makes this little teen/person/thing so incredibly happy! :D  
(Barden Road readers, I swear that an update is right around the corner! I'm polishing it up right now, because the last update was well over a month ago, and that's just not okay.)  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything familiar.**

It was nearly midnight in Georgia, and The Barden Beat was packed. From one wall to the other, all that the average person could see were slutty college girls working the dance floor, pervy college guys whose eyes were bugging out of their heads, sloppy drunks at the bar, sloppy drunks in the corner, and every now and then, the average young adult who had stepped in for a beer, and was now wondering what the hell they had gotten themselves into.

Between manning the playlist, taking requests, and putting up with Luke popping his head in every 5 minutes to either toss her a new request or whine about the music she was playing, Beca was exhausted. And far too sober. And if she had had to hear Ke$ha proclaim herself as a crazy kid one more time, when for the record _she was in her goddamn twenties_, Beca was undoubtedly gonna lose her shit. Damn that Luke and this damn top 40 crap that he was making her spin. Beca's ears were bleeding. Meaning that it was time for her to take a well-deserved drinking break.

As she set the music on a playlist and hoisted herself out of her chair, Beca was amused to see a cold bottle of beer poke itself through the space in which the door was cracked. Even more amusing was the sight of Jesse, who seemed to forget that the door was glass, carefully trying to avoid having his fingers seen as he poked the bottle in further. "Oh my God. A haunted beer." Beca deadpanned as she grabbed the bottle from Jesse's hand and pulled him into the room.

"Who ya gonna call?" Jesse sing-songed as he leaned against Beca's desk.

"Don't—"

"Ghostbusters!" he finished, much to Beca's aversion. "That's totally on your moviecation list. Right after Sixteen Candles. And Notting Hill. And St. Elmo's Fire." He rattled off while entangling his fingers with Beca's and pulling her closer.

"Dude, no. Come on, I watched like three movies with you this week, one of which was Glitter. _Glitter_, Jesse." Beca replied, shaking her head stubbornly.

"It was misunderstood!" Jesse protested.

"It was terrible. If I had cried at that movie, it would have been for all the wrong reasons." Beca said as she took a sip of her beer.

"Alright, so that was one movie. _One_ movie that you didn't like. But you liked The Breakfast Club! So we're making progress!" Jesse enthused.

"And then you showed me Spiceworld."

"Okay. That was–I'll give you that one. That was a bad idea." Jesse relented as he pulled Beca even closer and wrapped an arm around her waist. "I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want…" Jesse mumbled softly as he leaned his face closer to Beca's. "Nope." Beca cut in as she took a step away from Jesse.

"I really, really, really wanna zig-a-zag, ahhh…" Jesse continued as he inched towards her once more.

"I will leave you he—" Beca was cut off as Jesse leaned down and closed the distance between them, wrapping his arms around Beca's frame. Relenting to his warmth and sweet smell, Beca looped an arm around Jesse's neck and deepened the kiss, letting her cold bottle dangle from the fingers on her other hand.

Jesse pulled back and kissed the peak of Beca's hair. Ever since the date, things had been like this between them; light, playful, and easy. And neither one of them could get enough of it. Jesse would make regular trips to Beca's booth during shared shifts, and Beca would try and make a habit of coming down to the bar every once in a while to talk to Donald and sneak a beer (and _maybe_ to see Jesse for a minute or so. Maybe). It had only been a couple of weeks, so the two of them hadn't 'done the deed' yet (much to Stacie/Chloe/Fat Amy's dismay), but they were both perfectly content with stealing moments when they found themselves in solitude, because ultimately, those little hand brushes and pecks were what mattered the most.

"You know what's funny?" Jesse asked as he brushed his nose against Beca's.

"What?"

"The fact that you're wearing heeled boots, and I'm still like three inches taller than you." Jesse teased.

Beca rolled her eyed with a smirk, and shoved lightly on Jesse's chest. "Don't you have something else to do? The World-Wide Idiot convention called, and apparently they're missing a member." Beca threw out bitterly. Jesse laughed heartily before leaning against Beca's desk once more and kissing her wrist. "Fraid not. I'm on my break, and Benji and Donald are manning the bar, so I'm all yours." He grinned.

"Jesse!" Beca and Jesse jumped as a crisp British accent floated down the hall.

"And Luke's." Beca smirked.

Luke cracked Beca's door open and locked his eyes on Jesse. "Swanson, your break is over. Benji's dropping bottles, so I need you down there." Luke turned to head out the door before recognizing the very close proximity of his staff members, and turning back. "So…when I said no sex on the counter, that applies to the desks as well. Keep in sanitary in here. There's a lot of glass." Luke said as he knocked on the door and rushed down the hall, clearly disturbed that his employees were a _thing_.

Jesse laughed into Beca's shoulder before pressing a kiss to her forehead and heading down the hall with a hasty goodbye. Beca sighed and shut the door behind him before plopping back down in her chair. Taking another sip of her beer, Beca pulled her headphones back over her ears and cranked up the music.

:-) :-O ;-D

By twelve thirty, Donald had stopped checking for ID's altogether, and drinks were flying off the shelves. Jesse could feel the bass of the song that Beca was blasting vibrating under his feet, and his hands were becoming numb from all of the icy bottles that he had been gripping. As he slid a glass of Crown Royal to a bleach-blonde freshman who looked somewhat out of it, Jesse took a step back and scanned the room. Jesse observed that mostly everyone who had ordered something had taken it to the middle of the floor and began grinding against anything with a pulse, except for one guy who was perched upright at the end of the bar, sipping his martini and staring up at Beca's booth. He wore a crisp blazer and dressy slacks, and he just looked completely out of place altogether. The look on his face was unreadable as he picked up his glass and rubbed his chin through his beard. Jesse, feeling suspicious, walked directly in front of him before speaking.

"How's your drink sir? Can I get you anything else?" The man set his glass down and gave Jesse his full attention. "Oh, it's great. Everything's great." He enthused. "Hey, you know the DJ, yes?" he asked as he directed his eyes back up to the booth. Jesse followed his gaze and glanced up at Beca through the glass wall of her booth, who was hunched over her mixer board, toggling the controls. As she looked up, she matched Jesse's gaze for a moment and offered a small wave before going back to what she was doing.

Jesse grinned, and smiled back at her before turning back to the man. "Yeah. I do."

"Well, she's really something isn't she?" The man asked, his eyes not leaving Beca. "Yeah, she really is." Jesse breathed as he wiped up a spill that was a few inches away from the man's glass. The man nodded slowly before tearing his eyes away from the booth and turning back to Jesse. "Do me a favor, and give her my card, will ya?" The man asked as he pulled a small white business card out of the pocket of his blazer and held it out to Jesse. "Um…" Before Jesse could finish his sentence, the man had slid off of his stool and was exiting out the front door. Jesse sighed and pushed his hair out of his face while bringing the card close to his face so that he could squint at it in the dim lighting. _Paveway Records_, the card read, along with the name _Alec Balding_, and ten digits underneath, all in neat block letters. Jesse widened his eyes slightly before slipping the card in his pocket and continuing to wipe town the counter.

**This is more of a filler chapter, but it's kinda setting up for the chapters to come. Anyone wanna take a stab at the bar guy's significance to the story? I solemnly swear that this isn't gonna turn super overdramatic, and Beca's not gonna get kidnapped, or whatever, but he will wind up being pretty important.**

**Please leave me a review,**

**'Cause you feedback keeps me writing,**

**I-I love reading**

**Your thoughts and feelings,**

**They are f*cking awesome.**

**That was so lame that I'm literally cringing right now. Macklemore, in case you were wondering. That's all for now guys! Review please? ****Thanks for reading!**

* * *

_**People who I so desperately wish I could respond to, but alas. I cannot.**_

**potterfreak3: Funnel cakes really are a godsend, that's for sure. And I love your name! I wish I would have thought of that before I became a hair tool. No shame, thank you oh so very much, and OMG YES MORE SWEETS (I'm currently out of ice cream due to a greedy monster, or my dad, inhaling it all, so this is really special). Oh, and keep regretting nothing! It's fantastic! :D**

**Oliviab13: Thank you! And yes I am. Jeca for the win! :)**


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